Not Nesting

Jeremy says I'm "nesting". I hate when he says that. I prefer the term "preparing". "Nesting" makes me think of our family dog, Tootsie, when she was pregnant, panting and scratching for hours at the blankets in her cardboard box to fluff them up. My sisters and I asked our mom what she was doing, and my mom said she was "nesting". That's what I think of when I hear that term.
So, anyway. We have been preparing for the baby, and we're mostly ready. I think it's like preparing for your wedding or even for Christmas, though, you could just keep adding projects and never be really be ready, no matter when the Big Day is--not to mention emotionally and mentally ready, too. Only five more days to go, ready or not!
Jeremy's way more excited and ready than me, but he's always been that way about kids. I love that he's such a natural at being a dad. He helps me feel more at peace about the new arrival and the changes our baby boy will bring.
I am excited about the projects we've done to get ready, too. Here are some details:

This is something I didn't have with Miranda, but I thought would be nice, especially for a winter baby. I don't know what this is called exactly, but I call it a car seat tent. It's made out of super soft white fleece with blue argyle straps on the handle. My mom sewed it for me and whipped it up in about 20 minutes. I think I'll really like it. Miranda has been playing with it, and putting her dollies in and out of it.


These are pictures of the nursery. I love how it turned out. It was a lot of planning and designing how to change it into a "boy theme" while working with the black furniture and the red rocker. And to keep it within budget. I shopped for the perfect fabric for a long time, and finally found the print with dots that had red in them. I wanted it to be modern but still juvenile, and I wanted to bring in other colors than just having red, black, and white. I like the dog theme, and I like that it's a subtle dog theme, too, not over-the-top. I painted the dog pictures and re-vamped Miranda's crib mobile with the puppies, but my mother-in-law Merilynn, sewed all the pieces--the diaper stacker, the crib bumper, the crib skirt, and the table linens. She did it in less than two days and didn't use any patterns or anything. She is so talented and it all turned out perfect.





On the diaper stacker, I used a drawing from one of my paintings to use as a pattern for embroidering the dog detail.

"Fried Green Tomatoes"

There is a little spot on the pond behind our house where the water doesn't freeze and the ducks all gather there. But on these cold, cold nights, I wake up and check to see if maybe the water has completely frozen overnight, and I think of the quote from Fried Green Tomotoes:


Ruth: I love your stories. Tell me a story, Idgie. Go on, you old bee charmer. Tell me a good tall tale. Tell me the one about the lake.

Idgie: What lake?

Ruth: The one that use to be here.

Idgie: Well, that was just a lie.

Ruth: I know that, fool. Tell me anyway. Tell me a story.

Idgie: Uh. One time... there was this lake... And it was right outside of town. We used to go fishing and swimming and canoeing in it. And, uh, see, one November, this big flock of ducks came in and landed on that lake. And then the temperature dropped so fast that the lake just froze right there. And they... er... the ducks... they... flew off, you see, and they took that lake right with them. Now they say that lake is somewhere over in Georgia. Can you imagine that?

Big Girl Bedroom

This is Miranda on Christmas morning when we showed her her new "Big Girl" bed and bedroom. She loves it. I cannot believe how easy the transition has been. I hope she adjusts this easily to a new brother in two weeks...

Daddy's Little Helper

2009 and Other Numbers

Here we are in 2009! Jeremy did this picture--he calls it "Year of the Oxbama".
Now that it's 1/2009, we've been thinking about some other numbers in our life right now. Here are some:
37 Weeks - Pregnant for Heidi
21 Months- Age of our Mandy Mae
2nd Year - Jeremy is Top Salesman at his work
19th - The day the baby is coming!
0 - Times Miranda has gotten out of her "big girl room" since switching her from the crib (yea!)
1 - Christmas present still to buy (Hey--take advantage of relatives being out of town for the holidays and shop when the stores aren't packed!)
22 - Babies born in our ward in 2008
$60/Month - Amount we're saving by switching to Geico last week (seriously!)

SKI BUNNY

Ok we aren't going to start ski lessons until next year but Miranda is getting the outfit thing going right now...

Snow Fun

Since we've gotten a lot of good snow lately, I thought it would be fun for Jeremy to take Miranda out and let her experience the joy of making snow men, snow angels, snow balls, etc. I don't enjoy the cold, wet stuff, so I let Jeremy have the fun of getting dressed warmly and taking Miranda out to play. I got a new snow suit for her in the summer for a super deal ($7) and she had some hand-me down boots from a cousin, so we were all set. Turns out she hated everything about the snowsuit to the cold. She cried and pouted the entire time. Jeremy even tried to get her to warm up to the idea of it all by making his own snow angel, but she didn't care. Turns out "Snow Fun" is "No Fun" this year. Maybe next year. Anyone need a cute snow suit--size 24-month?



Here are a couple other pics of some pre-holiday fun. This is watching "Nemo" at Grandpa and Mima Lloyds. Grandpa has a collection of all the toys from the old classic "Rudolph" show and Miranda adopted Clairese the reindeer while we were visiting.


For Family Home Evening we decorated a gingerbread house that Grandpa and Grandma Peterson gave us. We have never done it before, and it was so much fun, we want it to be an annual tradition!

My Netflix Promo

As many of you know, Jeremy and I used to love going out to movies. We used to go out to a movie, and then Jeremy would talk me into seeing another one, and maybe another one, usually two or three in a row--ahh, the life. Then we had Miranda. With the reality of parenthood on us, we tried renting movies from Hollywood Video, but that got pricey (especially with late fees). Then we discovered Redbox, and that was fun at first, but got so annoying to pack up Miranda and stand in line to return them and then drive to other locations when that one was 'full' or when the vending machine was broken. And then we tried beautiful, wonderful Netflix. It works so well for our family--thank you, Netflix, for facilitating the joy of movies.

Nemo, a Shark, and a Pear

I really don't like decorating for Christmas--or any other holiday for that matter. To tell the truth, I think it boils down to me being too lazy for all the short-lived effort. I thought I might get more into the spirit of decorating for holidays with kids around, but I haven't. Maybe as the kids get older... I love going to my sister Holli's house, she has so many fun decorations all over. We decided that next year, since she hates wrapping presents (which is something I do enjoy), that we'll trade services for each other. But for this year, we have our tree up, which is so much fun, and a table decoration. Aside from the wreath on the door, which I justify as 'Holiday Neutral' until Spring, that is it for decorations.
So, here are pictures of the tree, which Jeremy trekked up the Wyoming snow-covered mountains to cut down with his own bare hands. It smells wonderful and I have the lights on all the time.

Jeremy's mom, Merilynn, has a cute tradition of giving us an ornament every year for our tree. She does it at the beginning of December so we can enjoy it all month. The one I got this year was the pear, above, pictured with one of my favorites from previous years, a hummingbird. They are both Cloisonne, which is so pretty.

Miranda got an ornament this year, too, from Mima. She got a clown fish (like Nemo) that I don't have a picture of, and Jeremy got this shark (which I think was secretly for Miranda, too.) She is so obsessed with fish, she loves these ornaments!

10 things I Love About My Home

I was tagged by Holli (a little while ago) to post 10 things I love about my house, so here it is--a photo tour of our home:
1. The shutters. I wanted shutters so I didn't have to worry about curtains/blinds, etc. on all the windows and I love them. I wasn't sure how well they would keep out light, but they are great when they're all closed up. Another plus side is that they are safer then blinds for kids (because they don't have a cord) but the down side is that kids love playing with them...This is Miranda about a year ago.

2. The ponds. We have two ponds--sort of. One in our yard by the front door that Jeremy built. We have a bunch of koi and gold fish and plants in it. It's especially fun to feed the fish each day and in the spring, there were a lot of tiny babies! I don't have a good picture of that pond because they never turn out. But here is one with the pond in the bottom right corner, although you mostly see just rocks and water hyacinths.

This is one of the pond behind our house. It's hard to see the pond in this picture, too, sorry! The farmer there has 5 acres and a nice pond centered perfectly behind our house. We love watching the ducks, geese, and horses that he has, too.

3. I love the large bathtub in our master bath. I soak there many a frequent night.

4. Along with the master bath, I love our bedroom. The main reason I love it, though is because of the furniture we bought after we moved in. We had had our eye on this set for a while and snagged it when it went on sale. The side tables, though were $250 each, and I couldn't see paying $500 for side tables. I told Jeremy we could get some much, much cheaper. And we did. Jeremy surprised me with these that he found at Pier One for $50 each. He has such good style, lucky for me. They go perfectly with the bed and dresser, but they aren't 'matchy, matchy', which I like.

5. Lights. We upgraded most of the lights in the house when we built it, and I don't regret it at all. This is one of my favorites--a Tiffany chandalier that hangs in the entry.

6. Storage space! We moved from a house that didn't have a basement and the only closets were in the bedrooms, so I was dying for more storage. This is a picture of the pantry in the kitchen, along with the reason it doesn't stay organized for long...

7. While I'm on the subject, the kitchen was one of the main reasons we wanted to build this floor plan. It is huge, and Jeremy and I both to love to cook/entertain, so it was a big clincher for us. I love the big island and the desk we put next to the pantry.


8. I love our brick and the wood Mission Style door on the exterior. A lot of our neighbors have rock instead of brick, but we felt like brick is more of a classic look.

9. The living room. I love the living room because it is so open and Miranda can play there while I am in the kitchen or working at the desk. Usually, though, she's about right under my feet. :)

Like how Skip was posing here perfectly? He likes to lay on the cold tile.

10. We are finishing the basement, and I'm really excited about it. Jeremy has done 95% of it all by himself so far, and it is a lot of work! He is working on sheet rocking a few rooms right now. We decided to focus on a couple of rooms to finish first. This is a picture of the area underneath the stairs, which will be a playroom for kids. We built a loft in it with this porthole. The other rooms Jeremy is working on is one of the bedrooms and my craft/office/art room. I'm SO excited about that room. I'll have to post pictures as it develops!

So, there it is. I admit, this is a fun tag but with the craziness of the holidays upon us, I feel bad asking others to do it.

Making Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Portraits of Skip

I have NO good pictures of Skip. I want to enlarge one and frame it for the baby's room, but I cannot find a good one. Anyway, just thought you might not believe me, so here is what I have to work with:


I call this piece 'Dead Dog Blending into Tile'


This one is 'Wax Model of Ewok Dog'


And here, finally, we have 'Sir Pant-a-alot'

I think I'll have to use one of the two puppy pictures I have of him, since that was that was the last time he looked cute. :) Unfortunately, I don't have those on digital format, so I will have to do some work to get a print/enlargement.

P.S. I do admit that most of you are better photographers than I--Seriously, I've seen the pictures on YOUR blogs--so it's really not all Skip's fault...

See You at the Movies

We took Miranda to her first movie--Madagascar 2. I know many of you are much braver parents than we are and have braved this frontier sooner, but I have not been ready to risk the possible disappointment until now. However, she did so well and Jeremy and I are so excited because we love going to movies, and now we can go without rearranging other people's lives to babysit! Of course the shows will have to have cartoon animals in them, but what the heck?! Oh, yeah and a huge tub of popcorn is a must, also.

More Baby Details

So, here's the scoop. I'm due the end of January (27th) and will be having another C-section, although my doctor keeps slyly making comments to get me to consider VBAC. Anyway, with the C-section, it could be the middle of January, but I'd like to wait out the full 40 weeks, if possible. BTW, when I'm 9 months pregnant, please remind me that I said that...
And the big news is, it's a boy this time! We would have been happy with another girl, but it is nice to have one of each already and just call that good if we want to (much to the chagrin of grandparents). We've got the names narrowed down to two, but I don't think I'm ready to publish them. I like them both for different reasons and I can't decide which one I want to go with. The middle name will most likely be Douglas, after Jeremy's paternal grandpa.
I'm sure Miranda has no idea what's about to happen to her world, though. Jeremy asks, "Where's baby brother?" and she points to my belly (and then hers, and then dads, etc.) Obviously she doesn't really connect the idea that my big round belly is growing her sibling. But who can blame her? I can barely wrap my head around the idea sometimes.
Thankfully, everything is going well so far. We're excited and I know the little guy will be here before we know it, especially with the holidays between now and then!

Third Trimester

Finally, the Third Tri! Actually, it doesn't start until Halloween (spooky enough), but it's close enough! I realize this may come as a shock to some since this is the first I have posted about it, but I can explain... I have been debating about making the blog private or not and delayed the news because of this, but what the heck, I decided I'll just leave things be for now. (I don't have enough energy right now, anyway.)
Here's the latest picture, and yes, 'tis on purpose that you can't really get a look view of the belly. Huge babies (Miranda weighed 9 1/2 pounds at birth) equal huge bellies, so don't expect too many pics of me for a while! This was a week and a half ago. Miranda wore the dress Grandma Peterson made for her and she looked like a princess, so we decided to do a photo shoot before church--so much for being there early! Anyway, I added a couple other pictures of the fun dress.
Jeremy said she looks like she's ready for Baby Prom in this one with her coat on.

Little pouty face

Utah Gems

Over Conference Weekend we went with Jeremy's parents to St. George for the Marathon. Both of them ran it this year--way to go Mark and Merilynn! Neither Jeremy or I are runners, and to confess, we don't completely understand the 'addiction', but it is really cool to watch the runners cross the finish line after 26.2 miles and admire the accomplishment. We had a really fun trip but we discovered that road trips are very different with toddlers (as we suspected). Miranda was actually really good, considering she only slept about 1 hour of the 8 hours round-trip. But we did make more stops that usual and although it made for a longer drive, some of the stops were some highlights of the weekend. So here are three "gems" in Utah that we'd like to share--just in case you feel like taking your time on your next trip to St. George or Vegas. Please share any you know about that we haven't discovered yet, too!




1. Garden of Eat'n (Paradise Inn -- Garden of Eat'n)
This is a Mom and Pop type restaurant at the Paradise Inn in Filmore, Ut. It's the Northern Filmore exit. It was possibly the best food we had the whole trip! Everything was home-cooked and delicious. Favorites were the battered fries, roast beef, and homemade peach pie. Don't just go for a sandwich though--Jeremy's turkey club was only so/so.




2. Cache Valley Cheese Factory
This is located in Beaver, Ut. (Don't worry, we spent 30 minutes driving around Filmore looking for it...) Anyway, this is a family tradition for us to stop there for the delicious ice-cream and the 'squeaky cheese'. If you don't know why we call it squeaky cheese, then you need to get some for yourself (and no, it does not have anything to do with bodily functions.)



3. The Outlets at St. George
Okay, so this is kind of a given if you're going to St. George. But the outlets are the best and a priority to visit. Even Jeremy likes going to the Old Navy outlet for himself and to the Gymboree outlet to buy something for his little Miranda. (This time it was a totally cute stuffed animal zebra purse.) One of my fav's is the new Shade outlet. I can't wait until they build the outlets in Lehi. Hopefully they're as good as the ones in St. George.

Confession

So, I have a confession to make. I have a weird hobby since being a stay-at-home mom. I guess it actually stems from that--wanting to keep in touch with the social world. But enough for excuses, here it is: I have become an avid obituary reader.
I don't think it would have turned into such a hobby if I hadn't found a few people that I've known, people I wouldn't have heard about otherwise, (ie colleagues from school, friends' parents, patients I worked with, etc.) Just this week, I saw the obituary of my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Schriener.
Please tell me I'm not the only one I know under the age of 40 with this weird past-time...

Just When You're Patting Yourself on the Back

My sister, Holli, and I took our girls (and Holli's Maltese, Nikko) to Gardner Village this week to get pictures of them in their Halloween costumes. I was feeling pretty good about it, considering it's still September and Miranda not only already has her costume (thanks to Mima Lloyd) but also that we could get out and take some pictures before it was too cold. Then, as we're doing the 'photo shoot' some older ladies stop and admire "How cute!" Then they ask, "Did you make the costumes?" Ummm, no. Just when you're starting to pat yourself on the back...
Anyway, the pictures turned out pretty good, but we did have to visit the candy store there and relieve some stress afterwards with some delicious salt water taffy (the fresh apricot and lemon meringue were to die for).

Miranda is a pink poodle. The original idea was a bear, but she would NOT stand for trying on the brown dress. So, we let her pick out her own costume...




Abby (little lady bug) and Miranda


Abby and Nikko

Birthday Thanks

I just recently celebrated a birthday and it was a really nice birthday. It's not easy to say that about all birthdays in this day and age. In my earlier 20's I used to get 'Birthday Feelings' which made me a little depressed--like where am I going in life, do I like who I am and what I'm doing, what DID I even do this year anyway? But the past couple of birthdays have not conjured up those thoughts, luckily. I have Jeremy to thank for a lot of that. He's an amazing person and I can't believe how fortunate I am that he's my husband and father to my children. He is super busy with work but he took a day off last Friday so Holli (my twin) and I could have a day to ourselves, without toting around babies and worrying about nap schedules. It was divine. We went to tons of stores (Rod Iron Works, IKEA, Gardner Village, Tai Pan, Tuesday Morning, South Towne Mall, and Seagull Book), had lunch at Archibald's, and got pedicures. So refreshing! So, thanks again, Jeremy and Brian for watching the girls!
On Saturday we got to go out with TC and Emily to the Real Game. It was fun to see Real play, since we have never been to one of their games, but it was even more fun to chat and hang out with our good friends (so we left at half-time.) We then went to Leatherby's and oh, man, my ice-cream on a warm cookie was sooo delicious. And we got to do all this without babies, too, thanks to grandparents!
Sunday was my actual birthday and Jeremy made a yummy breakfast and Miranda was so good at church that it made it great day, too. We had dinner with my family later, which is always fun.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks, again, to my great family and friends for all the fun birth-weekend celebrations!

Good-bye August, Onto September

We had a busy month! Too bad summer is almost over, we've had so much fun! We went to Thanksgiving Point a few times in August to take advantage of their Two Buck Tuesdays. We had a lot of fun get togethers with family and friends. Miranda took swimming lessons in Sugarhouse with her cousin Abby. Jeremy and I got a mini-vacation at Snowbird for his company party. And did I mention we've been chasing around a cute toddler lately? We also got a new camera, so we finally have some recent pictures...